The presentation of information such as notices or advertising at sales outlets, so-called shop advertising, is nowadays common practice. A common way of presenting the information is by means of posters of different kinds. The use of posters or the like has drawbacks, such as that the posters have to be hung up on something and are not particularly attractive to look at. Advertising by means of self-supporting advertising pillars has therefore become increasingly common. A drawback with the transport and storage of advertising pillars is that they occupy a large amount of space. This has been solved by providing advertising pillars which can be flattened during transport and storage and which can be extended when in use at, for example, the sales outlet. Some examples of advertising pillars of this type are described below.
In FR2730148 an advertising pillar is described, comprising two mutually opposing panels which can be extended from a flat configuration into a convexly extended configuration. The advertising pillar also comprises supporting members in the form of strips, which see to it that the extended shape is maintained when the advertising pillar is used. The supporting members are hooked together in the middle when the advertising pillar is put up.
In DE4314654 an advertising pillar is described, comprising two mutually opposing panels. The advertising pillar is extended into a convex shape with the aid of at least one tensioning element. Said tensioning elements hold the side edges of the advertising pillar closer together than if they were not subjected to the tensioning force of said tensioning element. The extended, convex shape is thereby maintained.
A drawback with both these solutions is that a tensioning element needs to be fitted to the advertising pillar, or alternatively a supporting member needs to be hooked together in order to maintain the extended configuration. Both of these solutions are cumbersome for the user, since the user must actively fit the tensioning element, or alternatively must actively hook together a supporting member.
In the literature, advertising pillars of the abovementioned kind which are extended automatically are also described. Some examples are disclosed in the following publications.
In GB2370977 an advertising pillar is described, comprising two mutually opposing panels. The advertising pillar can be in a first, collapsed configuration (transport/storage configuration) and a second, extended configuration (display configuration). In order to extend the advertising pillar from the first configuration into the second configuration, the advertising pillar comprises pretensioned members, which are pretensioned and extended when the advertising pillar is in the first configuration and which are then contracted when the advertising pillar is to be in the second configuration. The advertising pillar can hence be automatically extended from the first configuration into said second configuration.
In WO2006037896 an advertising pillar comprising at least one panel is described, but two mutually opposing panels are also mentioned. The advertising pillar can be in a first, collapsed configuration (transport/storage configuration) and a second, extended configuration (display configuration). In order to extend the advertising pillar from the first configuration into the second configuration, the advertising pillar comprises elastic bands, which are pretensioned and extended when the advertising pillar is in the first configuration and which are then contracted when the advertising pillar must be in the second configuration. The advertising pillar further comprises inserts for maintaining the convex surface when the advertising pillar is in the second configuration. These inserts have a length conforming to the distance between the edges of the advertising pillar when it is in the second configuration.
In US2007/0245610 an advertising pillar is described, comprising two mutually opposing panels similar to those described in GB2370977 and WO2006037896, i.e. the advertising pillar is automatically self-extending with the aid of elastic bands. US2007/0245610 also has pressure elements (these, too, elastically tensioned), which press on the inner side of the advertising pillar in order to maintain a “neat” convex presentation surface.
One drawback with the above-described, automatically extended advertising pillars is precisely the automatic extension. The automatic extension is obtained by means of pretensioned tensioning elements. This means that an advertising pillar which is in the first, transport/storage configuration will automatically assume the second, extended configuration, i.e. the pretensioning in the pretensioned tensioning elements must be overcome in order to obtain the first configuration.
Another drawback is that the tensioning elements (for example the elastic bands) are made of rubber or some other elastic material, thereby making the advertising pillar more difficult to recycle.
Yet another drawback is that the tensioning elements age, which causes the possible storage time for the advertising pillars to be shortened.